


Dancing In Nightmares

by buriedandreset



Series: Loba/Bangalore [4]
Category: Apex Legends (Video Games)
Genre: F/F, Horror, Sex, Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-28
Updated: 2020-10-28
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:35:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27245104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/buriedandreset/pseuds/buriedandreset
Summary: Loba's had nightmares all of her life, but lately they've been taking on a new life. Perhaps Anita has grown important enough to her that she's afraid of losing her the way she lost her parents?
Relationships: Loba Andrade/Bangalore | Anita Williams
Series: Loba/Bangalore [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2021294
Comments: 5
Kudos: 40





	Dancing In Nightmares

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Halloween, all! This story took on a more horrific almost-Nightmare-on-Elm-Street vibe than I actually intended, but it works out for the Halloween season, I think!

Ever since Revenant had told Loba that she was the one he’d been waiting for to put an end to his existence, she’d felt uneasy about the choice she had. After all, every moment of her life for the past twenty-five years had been dedicated to one day destroying the demon that had taken everything she’d ever loved away from her. But now that doing just that meant the demon would get exactly what he wanted gave Loba pause. Should she go through with going to his source code and destroying it, thus giving them both what they wanted? Or should she continue to let him live and be tormented by his unnatural existence?

Loba well knew that if she let him live, he’d simply continue to kill people, and she didn’t really want that blood on her hands. Because it most certainly _would_ be on her hands. She had the chance to put an end to him and save people who might otherwise die at his hand. But it would give her no true pleasure in killing him now. She’d wanted to avenge her parents’ deaths and to perhaps give her some sense of peace knowing that the demon was gone once and for all. But now Loba was realizing that there would be no peace for her in Revenant’s death.

What was her life without focusing on destroying the robot that had destroyed her life?

Well, she had Anita, but some days they would be oil and water to each other. Or perhaps a more accurate description would be a raging fire that would get gasoline added to it. Loba hadn’t opened up about her past, she didn’t want to nor was she ready to. Sharing that part of herself required her to be vulnerable in front of someone else, and she didn’t want to be _that_ vulnerable.

However, things did not always go the way people wished them to.

Loba was attending a high society party. She was dressed to kill, as it were, and Anita looked rather dashing in her tuxedo. The two seemed to be the talk of the crowd. Loba was rather pleased at being the center of attention, though it seemed Anita didn’t quite like the kind of attention they were getting. Though it was perhaps due to her not being used to her girlfriend being a social butterfly in this type of setting. High society was definitely _not_ Anita’s thing.

“Relax, beautiful, you’re doing splendidly,” Loba purred into Anita’s ear.

“Schmoozing with these kinds of people isn’t my strong suit.” Anita responded.

“I know, you’re quite the shot both with a gun and in bed,” Loba stated with a knowing smirk and a little gleam in her eyes.

“Oh stop it,” Anita chuckled with a little eye roll.

“You enjoy it. Besides, I’m sure we could find some military person you can talk shop with if the need arises.” Loba suggested as she hooked her arm though Anita’s, her eyes scanning the crowd.

“You honestly think any honorable soldier of rank would be at a party like this?” Anita asked.

Loba looked at her, that maddening glimmer of amusement in her eyes. “You’re here, Sergeant, are you not?” She teased.

“Shut up, princess,” Anita countered.

“Make me,” came Loba’s retort. That finally got the reaction that Loba had intended as Anita leaned in and kissed her to shut her up. Loba returned it, smiling against her lover’s lips. She felt Anita’s hand slip down to her ass momentarily before the soldier broke the kiss.

“Sometimes I don’t know whether I want to kiss you or smack you,” Anita murmured with a bemused tone.

“That’s the point, at least sometimes.” Loba chuckled. They’d drawn some pointed attention from the people immediately around them from the public display of affection. Loba could hear the murmurings, and no doubt any reporter was jotting down notes for the gossip column in the following day’s news. But suddenly, Loba found herself not paying attention to that. She felt a sense of dread, and her skin started crawling. A twinge of panic formed in the pit of her stomach and her senses went on high alert as she tried to pinpoint where the _demonio_ was. He was the only person that made her react like this.

Anita felt Loba stiffen and she turned to look at her. However, she never got the question out of her mouth. It all happened so fast that Anita found herself staring at Loba wondering where the blood spray on her had come from. That’s when all at once Anita realized she couldn’t breathe and looked down at her chest to see a robotic hand protruding from it. It was her blood. Her blood was on Loba.

And she was dying.

Loba’s eyes were wide with terror and fear as she realized what had happened. Revenant’s form loomed into view behind Anita, but Loba’s gaze was focused on her lover.

“Maybe _now_ you’ll focus on taking me to my source code.” Revenant declared. The words didn’t really register in Loba’s mind. Instead, she let out a scream born of fear and loss and anger.

It was a scream that Loba found herself screaming as she bolted upright in bed, heart pounding, and covered in a cold sweat. Her eyes were wide and it took her a couple minutes before she calmed down enough to realize that it had only been a nightmare. She was glad that she wasn’t spending the night with Anita. She _really_ didn’t want to go explaining her nightmare and the deeper meaning behind it to anyone.

Pushing the damp covers aside, Loba got out of bed and went to her bathroom, instantly running a hot shower. She knew she wouldn’t be able to get back to sleep. Peeling off her damp pajamas, Loba stepped into the shower, finding the near-scalding hot water a comfort compared to what she’d just dreamed. It had felt so real, but then again, most dreams and nightmares felt real in the moment.

As she stood there letting the water run over her, she couldn’t help but fear that the nightmare could be a reality. After all, people she cared for had a tendency to be killed, it was why she rarely let herself get attached to people. She feared loving someone and then losing them like she’d lost her parents. Perhaps being with Anita only made her a target for Revenant, especially as Loba was delaying getting to the source code.

There was an easy solution to the problem, and it was to simply take Revenant to his source code and destroy it, thus destroying him and freeing those around Loba from being targets and used by Revenant to manipulate Loba into destroying the source code. But this time, Loba didn’t know if she could take the easy way out. Or at least not _that_ particular easy way out. She could simply distance herself from Anita and everyone else in the Games, and perhaps that would keep them safe from Revenant trying to use them against her. But it would be the more painful option.

Tears welled up in her eyes and she slammed her fist against the wall of the shower in frustration. She finally grabbed the soap and started scrubbing at her skin, trying to get rid of the creepy-crawly sensation she still felt.

She stayed in the shower for an extended period of time trying to calm down, but she wasn’t. Finally after feeling as though she’d sufficiently washed the cold sweat away, she got out of the shower and dried off. She pulled on a silk robe and went to pour herself a drink. A good, stiff scotch just might soothe her nerves a bit.

But as the saying went, things did not always go according to plan. Instead of truly soothing her nerves, Loba spent the early morning hours reliving the horror of her parents’ deaths and Anita’s death in her nightmare. She was on her third glass of scotch before she realized it and put the alcohol aside. It clearly wasn’t soothing her nerves at all. So she decided to instead do some target practice. Picturing each of her bullets going into Revenant’s skull tended to do the trick whenever she needed to calm down. The only thing more satisfying would be to find him in the Apex Games and put him down there, but that wasn’t in the cards today.

Once she was dressed, Loba headed off to a firing range. Of course, she could’ve called Anita to invite her along, but Loba wasn’t exactly in the mood for company. And there was too much on her mind for her to really think about that possibility.

Somewhere between her home and the nearest firing range, Loba’s skin started to crawl. Though because of the noise going on in her head, it took a minute before she realized she was being followed. Barely suppressing a flinch, she turned down a street and turned on her heel to find the _demonio_ himself standing there staring down at her.

“What do you want?” Her voice was dripping with venom as she glared up at him.

“I want my source code. I’m here to give you some motivation to move faster in getting to it.” He replied.

“And what do you plan to do to give me motivation? Hurt me? Threaten me? Because neither of those are going to work.”

“I have a better idea. How about I tell the others all about your parents?”

“Don’t you dare,” Loba hissed.

“Why not? Wouldn’t you like them to see you in a different light? I think it would be _interesting_ if they saw you as the scared little girl you still are.”

“Aw, it’s cute how you think I’m scared.” Loba quipped. Yet even as she denied being scared, deep down she knew Revenant was right. There was a part of her that was still that scared little girl, and she hated how the slightest thing could send her back to that horrific day when she’d lost everything.

“Why don’t I pay your little girlfriend a visit?”

“Leave her out of this!” Loba growled, her eyes flashing in anger. That was when Revenant lashed out, his hand wrapping around Loba’s throat.

“Then get me to my source code and let us end this.”

Loba snapped awake again, gasping for breath as though Revenant had actually grabbed her by the throat. She was in a cold sweat, and it took her a minute before she could process what had actually just happened. A nightmare within a nightmare? She glanced at the clock. It was early morning, but she knew she wasn’t going to get back to sleep after that terror-fest. Instead, she got up, showered and tried her best to focus on the Games. She had a match to prepare for.

When she arrived with her gear, everyone else was quick to scramble out of her way. Some might have been confused as to why Loba suddenly repelled people from her, but she was embodying the Murder Walk. She meant business, and she wasn’t here to play.

“Damn, someone’s got her game face on today,” Anita commented, looking Loba up and down.

“I came here to win, and that’s what I plan on doing.” Loba responded. It was probably a little more cold than intended, but Loba was intent on focusing the trauma of the nightmares into the Games. She could be ruthless when she wanted to be, and right now she needed to be more than ruthless. It would be the only way to release the tension she felt within herself, the only way to ease the storm of emotions.

Well, there was another way, but she didn’t want to sink her claws into Anita _before_ going into the arena. It wouldn’t be fair to make her go into the arena with her back clawed up.

“Alright, princess, we’ll get you that win,” Anita stated.

To say that the Games that day went in Loba’s favor would be an understatement. She became the Kill Leader early on and never relinquished it. She left a bloody trail through the Arena until it came down to the last two squads. Revenant was on the final squad.

“Perfect,” she purred as she aimed her Kraber and downed one of Revenant’s teammates with a headshot. Revenant took down her Lifeline, putting both teams at an even two each. Revenant and Bloodhound entered Shadow mode and charged Loba and Bangalore. They sent them both back to the totem and pushed in. Bangalore took down Bloodhound while Loba unleashed a barrage of bullets from her Spitfire into Revenant.

Revenant went down and revealed he had a gold knockdown shield. Loba smirked and gazed down at him.

“I will end this,” she purred before she finished him. It felt incredibly satisfying to her to finish Revenant off and she found some catharsis.

After the post-match interviews were done, Anita came up beside Loba. “Gotta say, you had one hell of a day out there. It was hard to keep up with you.”

“As I said, I came to win, and I don’t settle.” Loba replied as she looked at Anita. However, when she looked at her, she felt her heart twinge, remembering Revenant’s hand going through her chest in the nightmare. She barely suppressed a flinch.

“No, you don’t, and I like that.” Anita murmured with a little smirk. Though even though she was being jovial, she could tell that Loba wasn’t as okay as she pretended to be. But she didn’t want to poke the issue. She’d tried poking the thing with Revenant and had gotten shot down by it before, so she would simply wait and see if Loba would talk. So instead, she had something else to ask. “So, what do you say to celebrating our victory?”

Loba didn’t really need to consider her answer to Anita’s question. While part of her wanted to push her away out of fear of losing her, Loba knew she didn’t want to be alone right now. And, well, even if they had a proper dinner date, she had an inkling on where they would end up, and she could use some good sex to help work out the other pent up emotions that were still swirling around inside of her.

“I’d love to, beautiful,” Loba responded with a smile. And, well, they did go to dinner first. After all, they needed to replenish their energy from the exertions in the arena and prepare themselves for more private celebrations after dinner.

After dinner, they went back to Anita’s place and it wasn’t long before they were undressing each other with feverish need. They managed to make it to the bedroom just as the last articles of their clothing hit the floor. Loba took the upperhand, pushing Anita down on the bed and coming down on top of her.

“I’m taking the reins today, beautiful,” she purred before she leaned in and nipped her way along Anita’s neck. She trailed her finger nails along her sides, lightly pressing them into Anita’s hips, causing her to shudder and groan softly.

“Someone’s on a power trip today,” Anita stated huskily, her hands trailing along Loba’s back.

“I think you enjoy seeing me like this,” Loba purred again as her mouth trailed down to one of Anita’s breasts, her tongue flicking against the nipple. As much as she needed sex and simply wanted to ravish Anita to within an inch of her life, Loba also took her sweet time, knowing how much it drove Anita crazy when she didn’t get right to the point.

But driving one’s lover crazy was what made sex all the better. So Loba rubbing Anita in all the right places, her hand moving between her lover’s legs, and she brought her to the edge of an orgasm, only to pull her back, then bring her back once again. She repeated that until Anita gave a sharp tug to her hair, earning a growl from Loba before she finally pushed Anita into an orgasm.

“Fuck you’re a tease tonight,” Anita stated breathlessly as she came down from her orgasm.

Loba smirked at her lover. “Oh I’m just getting started, beautiful,” she stated before leaning up and capturing Anita’s lips with her own in a searing kiss. She poured her fire into the kiss, her hands trailing along as much of Anita’s skin as she could touch. Again, she was moving a little slowly, partly to let Anita get her breath back, and partly so she could stoke the embers again. And, well, she did just love kissing Anita.

But she eventually changed position, her knees on either side of Anita’s shoulders as she buried her face between Anita’s legs. Her tongue went to work on Anita’s clit just as Anita’s tongue went to work on hers. They matched each other groan for groan, licking and stroking and hitting all the right spots. One orgasm each wasn’t enough in this position. They pushed each other to a second orgasm before Anita’s head fell back against the bed.

“Air, I need air,” she gasped. Loba chuckled, carefully turning herself around and laying down on top of Anita like a lazy cat that had just eaten the canary.

“Mm I do love the way you taste,” Loba said licking her lips. Anita chuckled, reaching up and brushing some loose strands of hair behind Loba’s ear.

“And I love your taste.” Perhaps there was a deeper meaning there, but neither of them paid attention to it. They were simply too busy being lost in each other.

After they’d had a respite, Loba was the one to go for a toy first. Much to Anita’s slight dismay, Loba remained on top, though she didn’t complain for long. Loba lost herself in the way their bodies rubbed against each other as she thrust into her hard and deep. She wanted to make Anita feel every iota of emotion that Loba felt for her, and she needed to release it instead of keeping it all pent up inside.

Anita didn’t hold back her cries of pleasure, and she’d long since forgotten that there was an entire universe outside of this room. Her cries of pleasure only made Loba drive harder and deeper. And it wasn’t long before Anita dug her fingers into Loba’s back and screamed her name as another orgasm ripped through her.

This time after Loba stopped thrusting, Anita quickly flipped them over, determined to wrestle control away from Loba. She successfully turned things around and soon gave it right back to Loba just as hard and deep. Loba’s nails dug into Anita’s back.

“Harder,” she breathed into Anita’s ear, and her cries of pleasure increased in volume as Anita obliged. The bed rocked under them, and Loba’s nails broke skin on Anita’s back, causing her to hiss, but she quickly shrugged it off driven by the need to make Loba scream. And scream she did. It wasn’t the only time Loba screamed Anita’s name that night.

Hours passed, and they’d slowed things down as they were both nearing the point of collapse. They both were kneeling on the bed, Anita being behind Loba. One of Anita’s hands was caressing one of Loba’s breasts, the other was between her legs, slowly coaxing her into another orgasm.

Loba moaned, her hips rocking against Anita’s hand. Her eyes closed and she tilted her head back. Anita leaned in and licked and sucked along Loba’s neck, and she moved her fingers a little faster against Loba’s clit. Loba reached back and threaded her fingers into Anita’s hair.

“Fuck,” Loba groaned out. As Anita’s mouth trailed up her neck, Loba turned her head and captured Anita’s lips with hers. The kiss was passionate, their tongues dancing with each other. Loba only broke the kiss to cry out as her orgasm hit her again. This time Loba’s legs couldn’t support her any longer and she fell face-down onto the bed. Not letting go of her, Anita came down on her back, both of them grunting at the impact, but not moving.

For several minutes, the only sound was their heavy breathing. Finally, Anita managed to find enough strength to roll off of Loba’s back and settle onto her side beside her. Loba couldn’t bring herself to move, being completely spent. She cracked her eyes open and gazed at Anita. Anita smiled at her, though it was lined with exhaustion. As it was, Anita snuggled close to Loba, hissing slightly as she shifted in a way that pulled at some of the claw marks Loba had left on her back. Loba had gotten her good a few times, had even drawn some blood, but not enough to have made them stop to tend to the wounds. Anita would deal with them after they were rested. For now, they both fell asleep, unable to stay awake much longer.

It needed to be said that Loba had definitely felt better by the time she fell asleep. All of the anxiety, anger and pain that had been built up from the previous night’s nightmares had dissipated both during the Games and in the throes of passion. Loba may have taken it out on Anita’s back, but her lover didn’t seem to mind the new “battle scars” she’d left. Though she doubted any of the claw marks would actually scar, she didn’t dig them in _that_ deeply.

Sleep was welcome, and she was warm with Anita snuggled close to her, arm draped across her waist. All Loba wanted was a peaceful night’s rest as she felt she’d earned it.

Loba slept deeply, and it was thankfully a dreamless sleep. She drifted back to consciousness eventually, sunlight peeking through the blinds just enough to show time had passed. But as Loba sat up, that’s when things suddenly weren’t right. She realized she was covered in something sticky and when she finally looked beside her, she saw Anita was dead, the scene looking like something out of a horror movie.

That’s when Loba realized there was a message on the wall scrawled in Anita’s blood: Where’s my source code?

Loba let out a scream and jolted awake, the scream carrying over into her waking world.

“Whoa! Hey! It’s okay!” Anita exclaimed as she jerked awake in response to Loba’s scream. She was instantly awake and took in Loba’s appearance. She was definitely scared, clearly she’d had a bad dream.

Loba’s eyes flicked around the room, taking in the surroundings. At first, she was uneasy because it wasn’t _her_ room. But recognizing that it was Anita’s and that the walls didn’t have messages written in blood on them, she started to breathe a little easier. That’s when she finally took notice of Anita beside her and she looked over at her, fear still evident in her eyes.

“Hey, it’s okay, whatever you dreamt wasn’t real. You’re safe.” Anita said in a gentle tone. Loba gazed into her eyes for some moments as she took some slow, deep breaths. She wasn’t in the complete panic that she’d been in the previous day after waking up, but she was still very uneasy. It was starting to become evident to her why she kept dreaming of losing Anita, and she didn’t know what to do about it.

“Okay, I’m fine,” Loba finally said after she managed to calm down a little.

“No, you’re not fine, I can tell. But I’m not gonna push you into talking. Just know that if you need to talk, I’ll listen, and I won’t judge.” Anita stated. She’d learned to not push the Revenant issue, and sometimes getting Loba to talk about anything of substance was a fight in and of itself. So instead of igniting a fight when all she wanted to do was help Loba feel better, she’d make the offer and hopefully Loba would talk when she was ready to.

Looking at Anita, Loba didn’t actually know how to handle that. She’d expected Anita to press the issue, expected a fight to be sparked, but that wasn’t happening. But she didn’t know if she could talk about what the problem was just yet.

“It was just a nightmare. I have them fairly often, so I suppose it was only a matter of time before I had one while being with you.” Loba stated. It wasn’t an explanation, not really, but it was at least a start.

Anita took the admission, and instead of trying to generalize the statement that everyone had nightmares, something about _how_ Loba had said it made it seem like her nightmares were different than normal ones. So with that deduction, she’d simply let Loba talk in her own time. As no one was actively being attacked, Anita let herself relax again.

“Do you want something to drink?” She wouldn’t ask if Loba wanted to go back to sleep, nightmares typically didn’t make someone _want_ to go back to sleep, no matter how benign they seemed to be in retrospect.

“Do you have any scotch? Or brandy?” Loba asked.

“Yeah. I’ll make you a double.” Anita said as she slipped out of bed. She pulled on an oversized shirt, then grabbed one and tossed it over to Loba. “Here, in case you want to put something on without getting dressed.” They hadn’t gotten to the point of leaving things at the other’s place for the times they spent the night together. Anita went and poured Loba a drink. When she turned to take it back to her, she found that Loba had come out to the living room. “Here you go,” she said, handing the drink to Loba.

“Thanks, beautiful,” she said taking the glass and moving to sit on the couch, crossing her legs. She took a long sip of her drink and let it burn its way down her throat. “I’m sorry if I made you think we were getting attacked or something when I woke you up.”

“Hey, don’t worry about it. I just want you to be okay.” Anita stated as she took a seat on the couch as well. She didn’t know if Loba wanted to be hugged, so she left some personal space between them, letting Loba dictate when and if she wanted to be closer.

Silence fell over them as Loba tried to figure out how to talk about what she knew she needed to talk about. She rarely spoke of her parents to anyone, even just in passing comments. She gazed down at the glass in her hands. It would be so easy to push everything down and continue pretending she didn’t need to let Anita get that close to her, to know her that well. For as good as Loba was at keeping people at a distance, Anita had gone and stolen her own heart. She both loved and hated it. The thief had her most prized possession stolen from her, a taste of her own medicine, as it were.

“You asked me once about the thing with Revenant, but I shut you down. The Arena is no place to talk about what’s between him and me. And it’s not something I talk about with people.” She finally lifted her gaze and looked over at Anita, a vulnerability in her eyes that was never there when she was around people. “But I know that if our relationship is to work, I need to tell you what happened, what I’ve been through.”

“I’m listening, but take your time. I’m not going anywhere.” Anita just wanted that known, and she didn’t just mean that she wasn’t going anywhere today. She wasn’t going to be abandoning Loba. Against her better judgement, she cared about her, wanted her in her life even though she wanted to strangle her half the time. And she wasn’t about to shut down this kind of talk when she wanted to know more about this elusive, ethereal thief.

Loba nodded and took another long sip of her drink, steeling herself for what needed to be said. “When I was nine, I was having dinner with my parents one night. My father had brought me a gift. Almost as soon as I took the gift out of the box, a robot broke through the window. My father ordered his men to attack, I think he knew the robot was there to kill him. He told my mother to take me to safety as the robot started killing anyone who attacked him. I broke free from my mother’s grasp and ran to my father. As he picked me up and rushed me to the elevator, I saw my mother picked up a gun and shot the robot. And then I watched as he turned and killed my mother. My father put me in the elevator, and shortly thereafter, the robot dropped my father’s body down the elevator shaft.” Loba pinched her eyes shut, twitching a bit at the memories. “It was Revenant. He murdered my parents and in that one instance, I lost everyone I’d ever cared about. I was left alone, and thrust into a system that tried to heal the wounds that night left me with. But some wounds are too deep to ever heal.”

Anita listened in silent horror. She’d seen a lot, been through a lot, but she couldn’t imagine watching one’s own parents be killed in front of them. War was hell, Anita knew that well, but what Loba had been through was something entirely different. And now she had more reason to hate Revenant, as if she needed anymore reason to hate him.

“I can’t even imagine how horrible that was. I know it’s not helpful, but I am sorry you went through something like that.” And suddenly things were clicking into place with how Loba behaved, the things she did, and how she talked about Revenant.

“Thanks. I became what I am because picking pockets was how I survived, it was what felt the most like _me_. People tried to placate me, to gloss over the tragedy I’d suffered, but it wasn’t what made me feel good. They weren’t my parents, and they couldn’t give my parents back to me. But no matter what treasures I stole along the way, I always had one goal in mind. I was going to find Revenant and kill him. I would avenge my parents if it was the last thing I ever did.” Loba’s voice took on an edge as she spoke of her vengeful streak.

“That’s why you came to the Games, because he was here.” The whole Broken Ghost thing suddenly made a lot more sense, and Anita suddenly wished she’d been a little more open-minded about Loba initially. But then again, if she had been, they most likely wouldn’t be here now.

Loba nodded. “Now you know that about me. Because of that and growing up how I did, trust comes slowly to me. Partly because of my nature as a thief, but also because I learned at a young age that you can lose the people you care about so easily. And I never wanted to be hurt like that again. So I buried my heart and kept the universe as far from it as possible.”

“You’ve been alone this whole time?” Anita asked, surprised by that. A woman like Loba would surely have suitors lining up to romance her. It was a thought that brought about a twinge of jealousy in the soldier, but she needed to remind herself that Loba was dating _her_ and not anyone else.

“Mostly. I do have friends, but only one who actually knew who Revenant was to me. He helped me track him down.” Loba looked over at Anita. “And now you know. My nightmares are typically of Revenant either killing me in some horrible way, or replaying my parents’ deaths in a twisted new way. But lately...they’ve changed.” Loba felt a lump form in her throat and a pit of terror form in her stomach. She paused to finish off her drink for courage. “Lately, it’s you that Revenant has been killing in my nightmares.”

Anita frowned and she instinctively shifted closer to Loba, though she didn’t completely invade her personal space. “I don’t know what tomorrow will bring anymore than you do, but I do know that that asshole’s not getting the drop on me. And I sure as hell ain’t going down without putting up a fight.”

A faint little smile curved Loba’s lips. “I have no doubt of that. But it doesn’t stop me from being terrified of the possibility of losing someone else I care about. Of losing _you_. And it’s driving me crazy and it scares me to death.”

“That’s what happens when you let people in, you fear losing them. It’s a part of life, but I’m not going anywhere, Loba. I’m in this for the long haul, if you are.” Anita stated, holding her hand out to Loba, palm facing upwards. It wasn’t exactly an admission of love, but it was definitely making the offer to take their relationship to the next step if Loba wanted.

Loba looked at Anita for some moments. She then glanced down at Anita’s hand as she set her empty glass on the coffee table. She was absolutely terrified and part of her wanted to run, but she’d spent so much of her life running from her fears, of pretending she was immune to getting attached to people. Anita had proved she wasn’t immune, and she didn’t want to lose her.

“I’m in it for the long haul.” Loba responded, taking Anita’s hand at the same time she closed the distance between them and sealed it with a kiss. Anita squeezed her hand tightly as her other one came up to caress Loba’s cheek as they kissed. After several moments, Loba broke the kiss and instantly shifted to snuggle into Anita’s side, her head resting on her shoulder. “And they call me a thief,” she muttered with a bemused smirk.

Anita gave a little chuckle as she wrapped an arm around Loba, holding her close. “I gotcha,” she murmured in response, resting her cheek against the top of Loba’s head. Sleep wouldn’t be coming for them again, but they could at least enjoy the peace of the early morning hours together. It was moments like this that came so rarely for them both, and neither of them took it for granted.


End file.
